


Standing Room Only.

by swaneewhistleandkazoo



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Insecure Newt Scamander, Light Angst, POV Newt Scamander, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Romantic Fluff, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swaneewhistleandkazoo/pseuds/swaneewhistleandkazoo
Summary: Summary: While on a mission for Dumbledore and on the run from Grindelwald’s followers Newt and Tina find themselves in a tight spot.





	Standing Room Only.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure quite sure when this takes place, post Crimes of Grindelwald so Newt and Tina are in a relationship just not quite fully comfortable in their relationship yet.

As he pressed his back up against the peeling wall, its solid presences giving him a false assurance of safety with Tina pressed up against his side. Newt reflected that while in theory Dumbledore’s little fact finding mission he’d sent Tina and himself on had sound so simple. In reality it really wasn't. 

It had sounded so easy in the comfort of Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts.

_Infiltrate the abandoned mansion that Grindelwald’s followers had been using as a safe house and retrieve the rare book on dark magic that Dumbledore swore was in Grindelwald’s possession and which probably held the key to breaking the blood pact within its gruesome pages. Don’t worry about Grindelwald, he and his followers the last information we had on them was they were in Austria._

_Return book to Dumbledore._

_Break the Blood Pact._

_Help Dumbledore defeat Grindelwald._

_Save Credence and reunite Queenie with Jacob and Tina._

_Spend the rest of his days with Tina researching Fantastic Beasts and travelling the world. Maybe have some children._

At the time it had seemed so straight forward.

Of course in practise however the Acolyte’s safe house had not been as deserted as Dumbledore had promised.  While breaking in to the mansion had been a piece of cake especially with an experience Auror by his side, Tina he’d discovered over the last few months had a certain disregard for the rules involving other peoples properties considering the number of places they’d broken into together in the last few months. This time however as they’d snuck through the open upper floor window their luck had failed them and the ear splitting racket of the caterwaul charm and then they had realised they couldn't apparate away a cunning trap to all would be trespassers.

Causing the Acolytes who had been peacefully, or as peacefully as a group of genocidal fanatics could be, chewing the fat around the fire in the kitchen, probably about how superior they were and how much they hated muggles came flooding out into the hallways.

And thus began a rather deadly game of hide and seek.

Never had he been more thankful for his years of tracking creatures through the wilderness or of Tina’s Auror training than he was just now as their combined experience in stealth and evasion and not being spotted had given them edge. Allowing them to stay ahead of their persuaders just enough to keep from getting caught.

In the back of his mind as they’d crept around the house has been the knowledge that however good they were, their luck couldn’t hold forever. Even the best trackers and hunters make mistakes.

They’d spent what seemed like hours padding silently, pacing each foot with care to avoid making the rotten floorboards creak, around the dusty cobweb filled corridors of the house. Each time it they’d been metres from escape one of the Acolytes had blocked them forcing them deeper and deeper into the mansion. A few of them he’d recognised the witch he’d seen constantly by Grindelwald’s side in Paris who always reminded him of a cobra, beautiful, cold, venomous and deadly. Two huge goons, how looked and smelled like trolls he felt he should recognise from school but couldn’t place their names. And that forked tongue traitor Abernathy, Tina had snarled under her breath when she’d spotted him.

The only good thing about this prolonged game of cat and mouse is that they’d found that blasted book Dumbledore had wanted them to find, so that some success. As long as they didn’t get killed in the process of escaping this mission would considered a success.

Escape after escape had been cut off, at one point in a short whispered conference with Tina about their next move he’d offered to use himself as bait and draw them away from her so she could escape. She’d looked at him for a long moment, her fire in dark water eyes dancing with emotion and told him in a tone that broke no argument that she wasn’t leaving him. He’d had to swallow hard to loosen the lump in his throat at the fierceness in her voice, it still amazed him that she could love him, plain old weird Newt Scamander that much.

 Eventually though they’d found themselves slowly cornered in a dingy upstairs corridor trying to catch their breaths. Newt bit his tongue in frustration to stop himself from swearing, closing his eyes he drew on the mental map of the house he’d drawn in his mind. To their left the corridor junction off north and south leading to delapited guest bedrooms and the main staircase when goons one and two where slowly searching their way through. To their right was a little rickety staircase, probably a servants staircase used when this house was still in its prime and full of hustle and bustle. If they could get to those stairs they would probably lead to the kitchen, once they were in the kitchen they could go through to the yard and escape.

Really he should have known better, anytime he did something on Dumbledore’s behalf knowingly or unknowingly, New York, Paris, Now. He always ended up on the run being chased by dark wizards under threat of being arrested or killed in the most painful ways possible, sometimes at the same time and by the same person.

Nothing good ever came from becoming embroiled in Dumbledore’s schemes.  

Hair prickled uncomfortable on the back of his neck and he was certain that they were being watched, and the wall seemed too close round them claustrophobically. Too little space to run, two fewer places to hide. His heart was pounding deafeningly loud in his ears eclipsing almost any other sound.

Tina’s leather clad arm brushed against his, her sudden touch making him jump a little as pleasurable tingles ran up and down his arm, calm radiating from every place she’d lean against him.  There was no one else he’d rather be on the run with than her.

Maybe some good things come from being involved in Dumbledore’s schemes.

Plaster from the wall flakes of and settles like snow on top of his shoulders and he cocked his head slightly to look at her in the half gloom of the dank and musty corridor. In the half-light she looked as intensely beautiful as ever. Her expression serious but unafraid and sharp with intense concentration, her head slightly cocked as she listen intently ears straining for the slightest sound, her big dark eyes, tiny points of reflected light dance in them like as she glances from side to side scanning for any danger. With her dark hair curling delicately around her ears and the gloom making her pale skin luminous if they weren’t in so much danger he’d say she looked down right romantic, so much so it made his mouth go dry.

_Concentrate_ he mentally berated himself and forced himself to return the task at hand.

He jumped slightly her long slender fingers curled lightly around his wrist and she shifted slightly closer to him and he could feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek. He swallowed hard.

“They’re coming up the stairs” She breathed softly into his ear and pointed with her chin towards the servant’s staircase to their right.

His mouth went dry for a completely different reason now. Very faintly but getting gradually louder he could hear the heavy footfalls steadily tramping up the stairs. His mind spun frantically, racing around his mental map of the house to find a way out or somewhere to hide.

 His pulse jump as Tina’s fingers slid down his wrist, over the pounding point of his pulse and entangled with his fingers, tightening in a reassuring squeeze before giving him a little gentle tug. The muffled sound of Tina’s boots against the rotten floorboards was comforting and was the light pressure of her hand in his. He wasn’t conscious of it most of the time, but in moments like this one, her presence was seared into his mind as clearly as if she were emanating energy.

As Tina drew him back farther down the corridor the echoing thuds of footsteps from both sides of the corridor grew louder and louder. The half darkness strained his eyes as he tried to pick up the faintest movement if he saw their pursuers before they saw him and Tina then they would have the split second advantage in a fight. His hand tightened on the case and went through the list of creature he had in there that would cause the most distraction for them to escape in the ensuing chaos.

With a jerk Tina pulled him into one of the dilapidated bedrooms just as Grindelwald’s Witch topped the stairs and the sounds of Abernathy and the two goons grew closer and closer. The room had once been beautiful he thought sadly looking around at its knackered four poster bed with its salmon curtains lolling open like a slack jawed idiot half on half of their railings. The echo of the rooms former grandeur only made the room feel more shabby and run down.

It rather reminded him of his Grandfathers house after his grandparents had died, run down and decrepit, bereft of a family to love and shelter the house had fallen, been left to ruin. Maybe it was a metaphor?

Unlike the rest of the house in this room the ceiling was solid with no holes for rain water to get though or a well meaning witch or wizard to squeeze out off, plus they’d never be able to get through any size hole in time before they were spotted. While he’d been distracted by the room Tina had spotted something he hadn’t “Storage closet, go!”

Tina dragged him over to walk in wardrobe and tested the handle, it refused to budge. With a glare at the stubborn handle she draw her wand and made a sharp gesture at the handle. Non verbal magic really was a godsend he thought to himself their pursuers would have heard any slight whisper. Ensuing clunk of the lock opening was louder than he’d expected and they both froze straining to hear if they’d been noticed.

Tina twisted the stiff handle to open the small door and dashed inside. Newt glanced across the room towards the corridor once more before following her inside. He just saw the shadow of one of their pursuers on the wall beside outside the door. Just in time the heavy oak door slid shut behind him, plunging them both into comforting concealing darkness. He tried to turn to face the door and his outstretched hand made contact with something soft and warm.

He heard Tina inhale sharply through her teeth.

Worried he might have hurt her he apologised under his breath “Sorry! I’ve barely got enough room to stand in” It was times like this he hated being tall.

To his great relief Tina chuckle slightly he hadn’t offended her by touching her in such an ungentlemanly manner “Its ok” she murmured lightly “I think found us a one person hiding place.”

And one from which there was no escape route if they were discovered. The footsteps grew closer outside. Newt drew his wand and unable to see what he was aiming at he muttered the locking charms triggering what he hoped was the door’s locking mechanism. For the first time today it seemed luck was on their side, it snapped shut with a substantial click.

“That’ll hold ‘em off,” Tina joked quietly.

“They’ll have to curse me first, you know.”

“It won’t come to that.” Her tone was light and teasing, but he could hear the tension beneath it.

In the darkness, Newt’s other senses heightened. The sound of his own heartbeat filled his ears, along with Tina’s slightly shallower breathing. He felt small bursts of damp warmth against his throat and his collar bone as she exhaled, but that paled in comparison to the heat rolling off her body. They were separated by mere centimetres from head to toe, except for the time he’d held her in his arms all too briefly after her death defining jump from the death potion in the execution room at the MACUSA headquarters they’d rarely been so close to each other.

Although those occasions had been all been very memorable.

He looked up to where the ceiling would be if it were visible trying to find a source of strength, and let out a long frustrated exhaled. He’d never been more tempted to reach out than he was right now.

“Listen,” Tina whispered, and leaned against him, apparently trying to position her ear closer to the door. One hand pressed against his chest, her slender fingers splayed over the fabric of his grey coat, she’d told him not to wear his blue coat because apparently it made him stand out, her eyes had glowed approvingly at that statement and he’d had to turn away to hide a flush at his realisation that she found him attractive. Her fingers moved just slightly stroking him and he had to bite down hard on his lip almost to the point of drawing blood to prevent himself from making a sound in response.

Honestly he could have kicked himself a life-or-death situation, and half of his brain was going off to la la land from hormonal overload. He inhaled smoothly, deeply, and forced his mind to focus.

Abernathy’s voice was shockingly loud his forked tongue creating a lisp on the s’s, just on the other side of the door, he pressed himself closer to Tina in readiness just in case. “We’ve searched the whole darned place, Roiser! Its nearly midnight We’d have found someone by now if anyone was here. It was probably just the wind or a cat or something…” Abernathu’s voice trailed off uncertainly.

He could picture Roiser drawing herself up in anger, coiling up and preparing to strike and the hapless Abernathy “And if there are intruders here…” Roiser said coldly, her French accent making her sound soft and threatening at the same time “…The Master would be most disappointed if they slipped through our fingers, even more so if they got their hands on his treasures.”

Well she wasn't far off.

Abernathy swallowed hard he could hear it on the other side of the door and it felt like the room had dropped several degrees in temperature and he could practically taste the tinge of fear in the air. Grindelwald was not known for being forgiving on his subordinate’s failure.

“N-n-no Ms Roiser I….”

“There’s only one way to be sure, I sent for her soon after the caterwaul charm was activated” Roiser voice rose so suddenly that they both flinched “My dear would you come up here”

The soft click clack of heals reverberated down the corridor, they sounded familiar and his mind raced to try to remember how exactly they sounded like. In the semi darkness Tina inhaled a sharp painful sounding almost sob and clutched so tightly to his shoulders her knuckles must have turned white as the footsteps strode confidently into the room.

 “Yes?”

Queenie the familiar American twang made his heart drop into his boots. No wonder he’d thought her footsteps sounded familiar they were almost identical to her sisters. He felt Tina twitched against him with an aborted urge to leave the closet and go to her sister. He slid his hand down from her shoulder to cup what he fervently hoped was her elbow and give her a reassuring squeeze and she relaxed slightly. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder and just breathed. He slid his hand around to small of her back and held it there, his palm pressed against the smooth soft surface of her leather auror’s coat she wore. The leather was so thick he was sure that she wouldn’t even feel the touch, but he could imagine he was holding her properly, comforting her.

With enemies just outside the door waiting to curse them into jelly, Oh yes Newt very romantic.

“Well” Abernathy sounded impatient because it sounded like Roiser was stroking Queenie’s shoulder “Is there anyone other than us here?”

He shut his eyes. With her legilimency Queenie would be able to locate them immediately if she hadn’t already, not even olcumency could prevent Queenie from finding them because they hadn’t been using it since they’d arrived and now he was too panicked to quiet his thoughts.

If Queenie gave them away then that was it.

_Queenie_ He thought desperately he wanted to tell her that she couldn’t trust Grindelwald and to rally passionately against all of Grindelwald’s teaching and convince her to come home, he wanted to beg her not to give them a way, to tell her how desperately she was missed but he couldn’t put it all into words even in his own mind. Inwardly cursing his clumsy tongue he compressed it into a single plea, _Please._

Queenie took two steps closer to their hiding place, he could the soft click of her heals. Tina stiffened and he could feel the trembles rack her body as she fought to keep still. He could still hear Tina’s heartbrokenly screaming her sister’s name and trying to run to her to prevent her from walking through those blue flames to Grindelwald’s side.

Time stretched infinitely but he knew it couldn’t have been more than a few heartbeats before Queenie spoke, Tina flinched slightly, “No” Queenie said sweetly, her warm familiar voice right up against the closet door. “If there was anyone here I’m sure they’d be gone by now.”

“Are you sure? I coulda swore I saw the other Goldstein and Scaman….” Abernathy was cut of suddenly and he’d never heard Queenie’s voice sound so cold

“Do you doubt me Abernathy? Especially after the Master has taught me so much? What secret’s I could tell everyone about you?” Her voice suddenly turned sweet again “Come on, I brought y’all some homemade strudel from Nurmengard, its better than any of the stuff you’ve got up hear.”

Apparently the temptation of good food was more than enough to draw them away from an apparently fruitless search as their footsteps faded down the corridor. Roiser’s footsteps faded the last as she paused at the threshold of the room and he could imagine her peering suspiciously around the room until she finally walked away.

A long sigh of relief exploded from him chest elated that Queenie hadn’t give them away. Maybe she would still come back to them and they could be a family again he wanted that for Tina more than anything.

Queenie had taken a huge risk to protect her sister and hope sprung eternal in his chest that one day Queenie would reject Grindelwald’s teaching and come home to them.

In his arms Tina held herself stiffly against him and from the uneven expansion and contraction of her ribcage he could feel she was only a hairsbreadth way from breaking down. He put his arms around her fully and held her tightly. Slowly degree by degree she relaxed against him all the grief slowly draining out of her until she relaxed against him.

They remained there, neither of them moving for several long minutes. He could hear Tina’s heart beating now, faster than usual. Her fingers traced small circles against his chest, almost a caress. He felt her breathing, warm and rhythmic against his cheek, closer now than she’d been before. Sweat trickled down Newt’s back and dust crept up his nose making it tingle and itch he was going to sneeze which would be disastrous because Queenie and the others would hear him. But the moment he moved, the spell would be broken. She’d move away, with longing in her eyes, but resolute in her determination to finish their mission.

He closed his eyes and willed the itch on his back away. The bit of dust that had settled in his nose, however, was another matter entirely. He felt the tickle of a sneeze begin to grow, and then there was nothing else for it. He reached up to squeeze his nose shut, his fingers trailed a caress up along the warm, achingly soft skin of her collarbone and the tender skin of her neck he could feel the throb of her pulse. He heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry, so sorry.” He muttered cursing his clumsiness and hoping that Tina wouldn’t think he was a lecher.

“It’s fine.” She told him gently

It wasn’t fine, he knew and the way he’d just stroked his fingers up the length of her neck in a very intimate touch indeed. His cheeks flamed in the darkness. Could he bugger this up any more spectacularly than he had already?

“They’re downstairs” she whispered, and stepped away from him. “Probably eating Queenie’s strudel” Her voice was tinged with regret and loss his heart went out for her. He knew how much she missed her sister and blamed herself for the breakdown of their relationship. 

The air between them was still hot and damp, and he ached at the loss of her touch. He ached in one place in particular, actually. Carefully he buttoned up his coat to make sure she didn’t notice that when they finally got out of here.

Very carefully he unlocked the door and gingerly stuck his head out and scanned the room thankfully it was empty. “Come on” He held out of his hand and his heart gave a little happy flip when she took it easily. Together they tentatively crept down the stairs. Light spilled out from underneath the drawing room door along with the sound chatter and of knives and forks scraping on plates. Silently he thanked Queenie for helping them. Carefully they snuck through the dark kitchen and out into the weed filled yard. Breathing great gulps of clear clean night air which chased the dust out from his lungs.

Still clutching her hand they apparated away to the relative safety of the Order's safe house. 

He glanced at Tina and bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at her. She was covered into a thin covering of dust and plaster dust so much so she looked a statue. Her dark eyes crinkled up in suppressed mirth. 

"You look like a ghost" She ran her fingers through his hair and sent little puffs of white dust up into the air. 

"You..." He couldn't lie to her or stop the words from coming out "...look beautiful"

Her answering smile made his chest go all tight for a moment until her fingers tangled in his hair and she pulled his head down to kiss him, her lips soft and warm on his. He puts his hand on the back of her head and kisses her back. It feels desperate. They’re clinging to each other like they were each other’s life raft on the ocean.

Like all of their kisses, it ends far too quickly, but then he'd be happy to stay in her embrace forever. 

Reluctantly he relinquished his hold on her and Tina stepped back hugging the book to her chest "At least we got the book" She said her voice coloured with regret. He knew that she would have given anything to have Queenie walk away with them but the fact that Queenie had let them go was cause for some hope. He pressed a kiss into her hair to comfort her trying to convey how sorry he was.

"Come on" He murmured into her hair. "Lets go home" 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Your comments and kudos are as always deeply appreciated.


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